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| Math Central | Quandaries & Queries |
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Question from Patty, a student: The probability of drawing a red ball out of a bag containing one red ball and one black ball is 1/2. An experiment is conducted where these two balls are placed in a bag before drawing a ball out. A ball is drawn 5 times from the bag containing the two balls. Each of the first five times the red ball was drawn out. What is the probability that the sixth draw will be a red ball? |
Hi Patty,
The answer is the first sentence in what you sent us, "The probability of drawing a red ball out of a bag containing one red ball and one black ball is 1/2." After the first 5 draws you are back in the situation of a bag containing one red and one black ball so the probability of drawing a red ball is 1/2.
Penny
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